Success is neither quick, nor easy. It takes years of dedication and continuous failure until one day you come up with the perfect formula. Learning from others’ mistakes is good, but it’s not the best teacher. If you want to do something right, keep making mistakes and learn from them; after all, what works for others might not work for you.

If you want to be an entrepreneur just because it’s trendy, you’re on the wrong boat; leave– fast. Entrepreneurship isn’t just about coming up with an idea; it’s about implementing it. Entrepreneurs are ones who take unusual risks and never give up. You sit countless days and nights to put together a business plan, and go through a rollercoaster of emotions thinking you made a mistake. Then you find yourself a co-founder and after all the road bumps you go through, you’re ready to launch. You might think this doesn’t seem so bad; well this is merely just the very beginning.

From that point onwards, you have to work ten times harder and make sure your business survives. You have to do whatever it takes, even if that means giving up sleep. I’ve mentioned in my previous article that one of the secrets to success is keeping yourself motivated. Personally, I enjoy watching motivational segments on YouTube. One of the videos I’ve watched talks about why you should probably give up sleep if you want to become successful. The reason was simple: you might miss the opportunity for your dream to become a reality.

I am not an entrepreneur who has launched multiple ventures, but I still work day and night on new ideas because I know that deep down, I want to launch a venture of my own. The difference is that I didn’t know those harsh realities when I first started, and I had to learn the hard way. Aside from the long hours of commitment to your startup, here are a few tips:

Read a lot of books. You might want to start with Life’s A Pitch by Philip Delves Broughton.

Don’t let money be your main driver; you’ll have to give that up too for some time.

There was this one time I was having a conversation about success, and the person I was talking to said, “If you own a restaurant and the dishwasher breaks, you better put on a pair of gloves and start washing those dishes.” Involve yourself in every aspect of your business and have patience– success will then follow. If you’re not strong enough to face the challenges of entrepreneurship, everything will collapse.

Abdulla Barakji

Abdulla Barakji is an entrepreneur, innovator, storyteller, marketer, and writer. Barakji is the founder of Business Buzz.